Hi !

One of my interns operates an imprint business that sells to college
students.

How can he determine if a clever motto/aphorism is copyrighted or in
the public domain?   (It would be terrible if this Whiz Kid became
Martha's cell mate...heh  heh  heh)

Don't knock yourself out on this question.  We just need the
basics----a 5-star answer would be 3-4 sentences.


All comments greatly appreciated !
ron

Hello nronronronro,

As you know, I cannot provide legal advice on Google Answers.  But I
can provide the results of my research.

The U.S. Copyright Office states that:

"Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. 
In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks.  ... 
However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that
contains sufficient authorship.  In some circumstances, an artistic
logo may also be protected as a trademark."

"Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright" [question 5]
U.S. Copyright Office
http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

So it seems that you are actually interested in trademarks.  You can
search for phrases that are trademarked in the U.S. by clicking
"Search trademarks (TESS)" at the top left of this page:

"Trademarks"
United States Patent and Trademark Office
http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm

You can also click on the guides on that page to learn more about
trademarks.  For example, one of the guides explains that it is
possible to "establish rights in a mark based on legitimate use of the
mark", but that owning a federal trademark has several advantages. 
(In light of this, I suppose that you want to search on a few search
engines to determine whether someone might already be using the
phrase, even without having registered the phrase as a trademark.)

"Should I Register My Mark"
United States Patent and Trademark Office
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/doc/basic/register.htm

I went a couple of sentences over, but I didn't knock myself out -- I
guess that's okay.  :-)

- justaskscott


Search strategy:

Browsed web sites of the U.S. Copyright Office and U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office.

Thanks, Scott.  Terrific !   ron

Ron,

I noticed that you've expired the question about standardized tests.
When a question is closed by the customer in this way, further
comments to that question cannot be made, so I thought I'd horn in
here and give you my .00 cents' worth of info on the test question (I
did some preliminary research before throwing up my hands in despair.)
I hope a partial list may be of some use.

ADMISSIONS TESTS TO SCHOOLS 

---------------------------------------------- 

ACT - American College Testing program 

AIMS - Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards 

AP - Advanced Placement 

CAHSEE - California High School Exit Exam 

CAT - California Achievement Tests 

C-BEST - California Basic Educational Skills Test 

COOP - Cooperative Admissions Examination 

DAT - Dental Admissions Test 

GRE - Graduate Record Examination 

GSE - Golden State Examinations 

HSPT - High School Placement Test 

ISEE - Independent School Entrance Examination 

ITBS - Iowa Test of Basic Skills 

LSAT - Law School Admissions Test 

MCAT - Medical College Admissions Test 

PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test) 

SABE/2 - Spanish Assessment of Basic Education, Second Edition 

SAT I (Scholastic Aptitude Test) 

SAT II - SUBJECT TESTS (Scholastic Aptitude Test) 

SAT-9 - Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition 

SSAT - Secondary School Admission Test 

TOEFL - Test of English as a Foreign Language 

---------------------------------------------- 

LICENSURE TESTS TO PRACTICE 

USMLE - United States Medical Licensing Examination 

NCLEX-RN - National Council Licensure Examination for Registered
Nurses

NCLEX-PN - National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses

---------------------------------------------- 

Best,
Pink

PinkFreud !

Thank you so much.  I really appreciate it.
(I'll make sure my next "good" question goes to you...you're great !)

ron